Abu Wabu

In a vein similar to that of the previous post, Tom Maguire notes the disappearance of Patrick Fitzgerald's name from MSM stories not involving Scooter Libby. So pronounced is this effect that the LA Times even attempts to obfuscate Fitzgerald's role:

Anyone can make a mistake. In fact, they are so common that it hardly seems to be necessary to mention the person who makes one - that, at least, seems to be the principle guiding the MSM as they dance around (and with) a particular figure they know and fear.

Let's start with the denouement, from the Saturday WaPo:

Charges Against Cowles Dropped
U.S. Court Clears Local Executive

Charges have been dropped against Northern Virginia businessman Frank L. Cowles Jr., who was arrested in November on allegations of conspiring to defraud a hedge fund out of $25 million.

A U.S. District Court judge in Chicago dropped criminal charges against Cowles on March 1 after the U.S. attorney's office there filed a motion to dismiss. Cases continue against two men who were charged with Cowles for allegedly defrauding a Chicago-based fund.
...
"For someone who has been absolutely clean and honorable all my life, the charges came as quite a blow," Cowles, 76, said in a telephone interview.

"The only thing I've ever had on my record is three speeding tickets when I was 18," he said. "After a very, very exhaustive 3 1/2 -month investigation, they came up with the right conclusion."

Cowles's attorney, Robert D. Luskin of the law firm Patton Boggs in the District, said the complaint against Cowles was a mistake and that his client had been the victim of a scheme that cost him a great financial loss.

"This was a mistake," Luskin said. "The person that was thought to be the predator was actually the prey."

Plamaniacs recognize Robert Luskin's name - he is Karl Rove's attorney in what is inaptly called the Valerie Plame leak investigation ("Inapt" because the actual leak seems to have dropped off the prosecutor's radar).

But is there another name Plamaniacs might recognize in this story? There would be, if the WaPo would print it; golly, they weren't this coy when the case was filed last November:

U.S. Arrests Three In Hedge Fund Case

Frank L. Cowles Jr. is known in the Northern Virginia business community as the owner of car dealerships and a founding director of Virginia Commerce Bank in Arlington. Now, at age 76, he is facing allegations of a criminal conspiracy to defraud an Illinois hedge fund out of $25 million.

Cowles was arrested at his Scottsville horse farm last week and released on $1 million bail, said Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago. Cowles made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Thursday.

In a criminal complaint filed by Fitzgerald on Tuesday, Cowles was accused of lying to a hedge fund manager, who was not identified, about the nature of a $25 million investment. According to the complaint, Cowles and two associates induced the hedge fund manager to make the investment, promising 10 percent profit per week in a deal that they claimed was being overseen by a Federal Reserve administrator.

Well hello, St. Patrick! And Cowles was accused of lying! And Luskin got him off! You can't make this stuff up. Well, eventually I will see if I can find some court documents, but this is pretty funny, and has to affect the odds of Fitzgerald seeking a rematch with Luskin over Rove.

But let's not single out the WaPo for unusual discretion - the LA Times seems to have developed a preference for job titles over names as well, although this is from last month:

Secret Data Exposed in Terrorism Case

Federal officials erred in releasing intelligence documents to an Islamic charity's defense team.

Federal officials in Dallas mistakenly disclosed classified counter-terrorism information in a breach of national security that could also threaten one of the country's biggest terrorism prosecution cases, newly unsealed court records show.
The blunder exposed secret wiretap requests that commonly include classified information from U.S. agencies, foreign intelligence reports and confidential sources.

The criminal case involves officials of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a now-defunct Islamic charity with alleged ties to terrorists. Its assets were frozen by the Treasury Department three months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

What? That sounds like a real breach of national security - who was in charge of that investigation, anyway? The LA Times won't say, but Josh Marshall knows.

Look, I understand why the media want to stay on his good side, but c'mon - report the news.

Come on, Tom: report the news? What are you, naive?